


Sweeter than Apple Pie

by zandral



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-27
Updated: 2014-03-27
Packaged: 2018-01-17 05:08:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1374907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zandral/pseuds/zandral
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kindness goes a long way for people who live defending the world from evil. So when Steve and Bucky do a nice thing for Darcy, it creates a series of events that will make them laugh, cry and find love in even the darkest of times.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweeter than Apple Pie

**Author's Note:**

> I have 7 days before Winter Soldier comes out and I'm about to lose it, so what do I do? I write my favorite OT3. This is going to be a slow build, sex will be very later in the game.

There were many things that Steve Rogers can do, he can fight twenty Nazis, stop a drug cartel, and tip a cabby. Steve Rogers was a man with many talents that have been told time and time again as the years past and he took pride in every skill he knew. There was very few things that the man who was envied by many could not do. One such thing was cook a dinner without it burning. His best friend made sure to remind him of this any chance he got. 

"Steve, why is the pasta bubbling over?" Bucky Barnes asked while reading about the latest baseball news on his phone. Smirking as he heard the man curse loudly at the boiling over pasta on the oven, Bucky kept his eyes on his screen so Steve could preserve some of his dignity. It was the time of the month when Steve and Bucky were not constantly on missions, where they could only say hello to each other maybe once a day, and that was when they were lucky. 

The first two days were always spent catching up and making sure the other was alright with forcing the other of the duo to go to check ups and to get a sound sleep. After that the two got bored very quickly. That boredom usually meant that Steve wanted to practice something that he believed himself to need work on. At first this was just his fighting moves, wanting to reflect on the past missions and how he could deflect a move better. Bucky would help him with this and for a few times this was able to kill at least a day. The former Russian assassin then had to help his best friend find something new to do, because the super solider was many things, but a couch potato was not one of them. 

When it came to cooking dinner, it was mostly take out, or Bucky would do it. In the old days, the man would be the one to cook because one of the jobs he worked at to pay the rent was a restaurant. The owner had taught Bucky how not to burn a piece of toast and a few other solid tips on how to work around an oven, so the job was given to him. In the present though, Steve had wanted to help out with the job, and quickly learned that he needed to practice said job. Bucky watched from the kitchen table the man scurry from pot and pan to make the meal for the night, occasionally saying simple tips like 'Don't forget to flip the pancake.' or 'Steve it's already dead, you don't have to beat the meat into a smoothie.' 

Today it was pasta with tomato sauce, at least that's what supposed to be for dinner. As Bucky looked up from his phone with a glint of mischief and a smirk resting peacefully on his mouth, he saw Steve glaring daggers into the pasta pot, mumbling something about the heat being too high. 

"Buck, if you give me that look one more time I'm going to throw you into the wall." Steve snapped crisply at his friend before going back to stirring the sauce on the other oven burner. Knowing it was almost time to intervene in the super soldiers attempt at cooking, Bucky put his phone away in his pocket to watch his friend suffer. That's what friends are for anyway, having your back when times are tough, and amusement for when times are peaceful. 

It had been 6 whole months since he was deprogrammed from the Red Room. The first three were spent in despair over the damage and blood he caused. Then Steve got tired of his sad ass and knocked him a new one, even though the doctors heavily discouraged it. It worked though, as he sat down on the hard ground with a bloody nose and reaking of booze, he realized that this would get him no where. Soon after, Steve asked him to join the Avengers and help him fight the good fight. It gave him purpose in a time when he needed it most, and he loved his job. Except for the times he had to run in swearers. Those missions sucked according to Bucky, and he constantly accused Steve of using his Captain America status to get out of those missions. 

Steve always denied this, yet the shit eating smile on his face after being asked led Bucky to believe otherwise. 

"Punk that pasta is deadlier than you right now." the man casually replied, earning a middle finger being tossed his way. Containing the chuckle in his throat took effort, but once he did, Bucky stood up from his seat and made his way over to the stove top. Gently moving Steve to the side, and hearing a grunt of acceptance coming from the man, the brunette got to work on making sure the pasta was going to be edible. It really wasn't that off, only needing a few touches here and there. Saying this to Steve only got another caveman grunt from the sophisticated and charming super solider. 

"I should be able to cook, everyone can cook." Steve grumbled as he got out the dinner plates and silverware to set the table. The man was very picky about how the table should be set up, more than once giving Bucky a disproving glaze as he forgot to set down a place mat or, heaven forbid, a coaster. Bucky understood this trait in his best friend because he knew the story of the kitchen table, a story told by no one, but known by all who knew Steve Rogers personally as he and Bucky were trying to furnish their apartment. 

It was still heart clenching for the man to look at prices these days, not so much for the basics anymore, but for the indulgences Steve allowed himself. It took Bucky a month to convince the man to go out and get an ipod, Steve not wanting to spend so much money on such a tiny thing when it really wasn't necessary. It wasn't because Steve was a cheapskate, Bucky remembered that when he finally got to sobering up it was Steve who was the one to always be spoiling the brunette with coffee from the cafe down the block and items that the soldier knew Bucky loved to eat. 

It was more to the fact of that Steve grew up in the time when having food was a blessing some days. The man never took anything for granted, and any indulgences to his own self were kept to a minimum. It drove Bucky crazy sometimes seeing his best friend not get something for himself just because he wanted it, and when he could get away with it, the man would buy the damn thing for the punk if he didn't buy it for himself. 

This included the kitchen table. They really didn't need one at first, but as their lives steadied and things calmed down to a comfortable pattern Steve entertained the idea. To the two of them, a kitchen table meant that they were secure, and that there was somthing to go home to. When they tried to explain it to their friends, most didn't understand, but Bruce and Clint were the two that  were able to, nodding their heads and smiling in understanding. 

 It took two months to find a kitchen table that Steve approved of. Two months of Bucky almost being driven to insanity as his friend would inspect a table, and shake his head no because of one little thing. If there was ever a test of patience, shopping with Steve Rogers for furniture was it. Thankfully when they found it, the Captain was overjoyed, and the look on his face when he paid for it made the months of agony worth it.

Looking over his shoulder at Steve setting down three places for dinner, Bucky smiled at his friends grumbling. "You're getting it though, soon you'll be able to cook without anything catching on fire. Give it a decade." He joked, laughing outright as he felt a cloth place mat the back of his head. 

"Oh shut it jerk. Darcy will be here soon and I don't want to have her walking in on me beating the smirk off your face." Steve replied as he finished setting the table, fidgeting a bit as he didn't know what else to do at this point. They had invited the woman to the apartment for dinner earlier that day after Darcy let it slip that she hadn't had a solid meal in her for a week or so, living off smoothies, coffee and the occasional pizza slice as she worked on finishing her exams and papers. 

The two men had met the woman after Thor introduced Steve and Barnes to his girlfriend Jane Foster. While Jane was a wonderful woman with her own talents and skills, she was more sociable with the other scientists. Darcy they had met the day after, as she was dragging her best friend out of Starks lab, with enough sass and charm falling from her lips that it left even Tony Stark himself standing there wondering how the woman bested him in a game of words. After that, they saw her regularly, watching old shows in the Common Room at Stark Tower when the two men were on call that night for missions, or even talking over coffee while Darcy waited for Jane to finish up, or at least get to a stopping point, so the woman could take the scientist back home to sleep and bathe. 

"Yeah yeah, I know. Go change into a shirt that's not covered in tomato sauce before she gets here." Bucky said with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. Getting flipped the bird once more, the man held in another chuckle as Steve quickly started for his room, cursing and trying to unbutton his shirt. Getting back to work, Bucky let the silence be filled with the water boiling for a while before hearing the doorbell. "It's open!" He yelled out of the kitchen. 

"James answer the door!" The man heard being yelled from Steve bedroom with a tone that clearly meant that Steve was pissed his friend was being rude. Bucky didn't think he was being rude, but if Captain America said so, it must be true. Before he was able to walk over though, Darcy entered, closing the door and walking over to the kitchen. 

"Hey Bucky!" Darcy happily greeted with a tired smile. Her last final was this afternoon, and after all the hours of studying for it, she was confident in getting an A in the class. Bucky took one look at her and knew she had just come from the final, her backpack resting heavily on her shoulder. Turning off the stove, Bucky grinned at the woman and walked out with her to the living room. 

"Hey there Darcy, dinners gonna be a moment, ya want me to take that?" He asked, nodding to her backpack. 

"Oh god throw it into a fire, I never want to see it again." Darcy replied, giving the backpack to the gentleman before her and watching his eyebrow shoot up at how heavy it is. 

"Jesus, sweetheart how are you even standing right now?" Bucky asked as he set the bag off to the side close to the coffee table. Darcy replied by sitting down on the leather couch and looking up at him with a cheeky smile, letting her arms rest on top of the couch and her body almost melting into the furniture. 

"I'm not right now, nor for the next few days." Darcy replied. "Leave me here to rot, it's comfy." With a chuckle, Bucky was about to say a retort when Steve walked in wearing a new crisp shirt.

"Hey Darcy!" The soldier exclaimed, smiling down at the exhausted woman. She smiled back up at the captain and gave him a weak salute in greeting. Steve looked over at the clock on the wall, and saw that it was time for dinner. With this announced, Darcy looked up at him with a look that a devout son of god would give a preacher promising the land of heaven. 

"I need food." She elequiently said, earning a small laugh from Bucky as he helped her up from the couch. 

"No? Never would have guessed." 

"Are you sassing me right now Barnes?" 

"Both of you better be walking to the kitchen table right now." Steve interjected casually as he walked into the kitchen to set everything up in serving bowls. With a smile, the two complied, but not without giving a silent agreement to continue this sass later.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, I did not expect it to be this long and so I cut it short so the actual dinner will be in the second chapter. Leave a comment below if you want!!


End file.
